American Whaling Ship “Essex” Was Attacked and Sunk by an Enormous Sperm Whalele

The Essex set sail on its last voyage in August 1819, leaving Nantucket, Massachusetts, for the Pacific Ocean, where sperm whales were plentiful. Built in 1799 and weighing 238 tons, the Essex vessel was about 100 tons lighter and roughly twenty years older than the most modern ships produced on the island. Even so, its earlier expeditions had yielded profitable amounts of sperm oil—an especially prized lighting oil taken from the spermaceti organ in a sperm whale’s head—earning the ship a reputation among Nantucket whalers as both successful and fortunate.

On that fateful morning, the crew had just harpooned a whale when they saw a much larger one, estimated at 85 feet long, begin acting aggressively. The massive creature charged the Essex, ramming it twice with incredible force. The second impact was catastrophic, smashing a hole in the ship’s bow.

The crew rushed to the surviving whaleboats. they gathered whatever provisions they could from the wreck, fitted the small boats with makeshift sails, and argued over the best route to safety. In the end, they chose to steer toward the South American mainland—nearly 2,000 nautical miles away—rather than risk landing on closer islands. Fearing cannibals on the closer islands, the men made the difficult decision to sail for South America. This choice led to immense suffering.

A grueling 93-day ordeal for survival began. They faced starvation, storms, and severe dehydration in the open ocean.

In a grim twist of fate, the men eventually resorted to cannibalism as the months wore on. Adrift in open waters and stopping at uninhabited islands, the crew became scattered, many succumbing to hunger, thirst, and illness. At first, they survived by consuming shipmates who had already died. But on February 1, 1821, the remaining sailors drew lots to decide who would be killed so the others could live. According to Chase, the man chosen accepted his fate “with great fortitude and resignation.”

Later that month, a British ship found the remaining men in Chase’s boat, so debilitated that they had to be carried aboard. The captain’s crew was rescued in mid-March—117 days after the Essex went down. Of the roughly 20 or 21 sailors who originally departed Nantucket, only eight lived through the ordeal.

When Chase finally returned home, his family—who had long assumed he was dead—received him with profound relief and gratitude, thanking what he described as a merciful Creator for bringing him back “through darkness, trouble and death” to his loved ones. Readers owe a debt of thanks as well: although Melville’s novel inspired by the Essex initially sold poorly, it eventually became a cornerstone of American literature.

The story of their harrowing journey was recorded by First Mate Owen Chase. His account would later become the primary inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby-Dick.

Sources: Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex

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